That friend who pitched me a "million dollar idea" in 2005 actually had something

Back in 2005 my buddy Tom kept bugging me about this website where people could rent out their spare rooms to travelers. I thought he was nuts. Why would anyone stay in a stranger's house when hotels exist? I told him it sounded sketchy and to focus on something real. He kept pushing for months, even showed me a basic mockup he built himself in a weekend. I brushed it off as a college kid fantasy. Fast forward to today and Airbnb is worth billions. I still see Tom at neighborhood cookouts and he never brings it up, but I think about that conversation every time I book a rental. Has anyone else had a friend pitch something that seemed dumb at the time but turned out to be huge?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookep6212d ago

Knew a guy in my early 20s who kept talking about letting strangers borrow power tools from your garage through an app. Called it "ToolShare" or something. I laughed and said who would let some random dude use their table saw. Last year that same guy sold his startup to Home Depot for like 40 million. Still makes me wince every time I rent a tiller from the hardware store.

umabailey12d ago

@brookep62 Actually I think it was called ToolKloud not ToolShare, but yeah that story still hurts to think about.